Combination portable tubing board and tubing rack



Jul 13, 1937. D. w. LEE 2,087,155

CCMBINATION PORTABLE TUBING BOARD AND TUBING RACK Filed July 16, 1936 2 Sheets-Sheet l BYf F Z ATTORNEYS 0. w. LEE

Jul ls 1937.

COMBINATION PORTABLE TUBING BOARD AND TUBING RACK 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed July 16, 1936 INVENTOR @071 /%Z;@, fa-"MW ATTORN EY;

Patented July 13, 1937 i UNITED STATES PATENT orrlce COBIBINATION PORTABLE TUBING BOARD AND TUBING RACK Don W. Lee, Oklahoma City, Okla, assignor to Skelly Oil Company, Tulsa, kla..

. Application July 16, 1936, Serial No. 91,015 Claims, (01. 211-60) My invention relates to new and useful im to move them from place to place in the derrick,

provements inthecombination of a portable tuband from well to well, as needed. 7 ing board and tubing rack with oil well derricks, It is to overcome these-disadvantages and difandh-as-for itsiobject toprovidea tubing board fi'culties that I have designed a portable tubing '5 sand: rack which may be quickly and easily atboard of comparatively light weight for the work- 5 1 .;tached to the-derrick at any desired level. man to stand upon, and a co-operating portable -Another objectio-f invention resides in prorack againstwhich the upper ends of the stands viding a relatively light tubing board which can of tubing are adapted to rest. The tubing board v:befeasily handled yet which is suificiently sturdy is attached to one of the girths on one side of the Pile S and.-a y1:shocks to which it may be subderrick at the desired height, and the rack is 10 ifie'cted. 1 ,j attached to the same girth at one side of the -In operating oil wells, it becomes necessary tubing board in acorner of the derrick. from timeto timerto pull the tubing out of the Furthermore, by my invention I provide a safe --well for repairs and "cleaning out the well itself. place for the tubing board workman in performl5 a-In thisievent, under the usual practice, the string ing his duties in that the individual stands of 1 ;.of tubing is raised by the conventional elevator tubing are only temporarily leaned against the attached to a steel cable on a block and pulley tubing board to' enable the workman to disenhigh in the derrick; and a reel on the floor opergage the elevator from the stand, after which the .ated by an engine; The string of tubing is susstand is pushed to one side and leaned against pended by means of atubing spider and thetubthe rack where it remains until re-run in the ing is unscrewed in two, three or four joint well. lengths. or stands as the case may be. Each A still further object of my invention is to pro- -stand is then raised slightly, its lower end pushed vide a tubing board in combination with a rack, :.:to one side and is then lowered to the derrick the latter being reversible and adapted to be -251floor. As'each stand is unscrewed, swung to one attached to any corner of the derrick with equal- "sideiand lowered to itsplace on the floor, a workfacility, thus making it possible to rest the stand .i'nan: standing :on a tubing board located at a .of tubing on any side of the derrick. jsullteible level ihe derrick, depending up e With the above and other objects in view which length of thelstands, leans the upper end of each will appear as the description proceeds, my instand against the tubing board and then detaches vention consists in the novel features herein set: 30 I theelevator therefrom. The elevator is then forth, illustrated in the accompanying drawings I ow d e e fi and is attached to p and more particularly pointed out in the append- "of th'e'next sectionof the string in the well, and d l i s. "the operation-heretofore described is repeated Referring to the drawings in which numerals until e String, has n entirely p d In of like character designate similar parts throughre' running" the tubing, obviously the reverse of t th several views, f the ehemtien abeliefieseribed is followed- Fig. 1 is a front elevation of a derrick with my Q tubing boardsjheretofore p y av improved tubing board and rack in place on the b e h av nd l due the factithat the side thereof. For the purposes of illustration I stands had to be lean d against 1Jhe Same, Which have shown two such boards and racks in place obviously created a dangerous hazard for the at different levels in the derrick. workman standing thereon. These tubingboards Fig. 2 is an enlarged detail perspective View of were made of heavy oak timber reinforced with the tubing board. 45, Steel a W he pp t y f o 300 170 Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail perspective view 400 pounds. They were laid across the derrick of th t bi rack, and p at y S a level adapted to p the Fig. 4 is an enlarged perspective View partially 1 distance between the girths at that level. Due broken away showing my combined tubing board to the construction of the conventional derricks, and rack in place in the derrick. V i. e., wider at thebottom and gradually decreas- In the drawings, 1 designates a conventional ingin width towards the top, the tubing boards derrick located over an oil well and extending had to be sufiiciently long to span the Widthof upwardly for approximately or feet. The V the der-rick in the lower part thereof (about 14 upper portion of the derrick is provided with a feet) for handling tubing in single joints. j Ihe small platform 2 adapted to carry the conven- ".55 .bulk;and weight ofthe se boards made it difiicult tional block and pulleys (not shown) used in 55 raising the tubing from the well or re-running said tubing into said well.

In Fig. 2 I have shown a perspective view of my improved tubing board or platform 3 which may be composed of any suitable material such as wood or metal, preferably rough oak planks of a thickness of approximately 1 inch and about 7 feet in length. Several of these planks are secured together edgewise to form a tubing board approximately 2 A feet in Width, and if desired, I may protect the edges of the board by bounding the assembled platform with metal strips or the like ll secured thereto in any suitable manner.

The tubing board 3 rests upon supporting rods 5 underlying either end thereof and secured in place preferably by a series of U-bolts which project upwardly through the board and are fastened by means of nuts 6. Each of these rods 5 is provided at one end with a yoke I adjustably secured to the rods, preferably by a telescopic connection and set screw 8. In the form shown in the drawings these rods 5 are tubular in shape so as i to receive the supporting shanks'of the yokes 1 which may be moved inwardly or outwardly to 5 the desired position and retained in place by the set screws 8 which extend through the tubular rods and bear against the supporting shanks of the yokes.

The tubing board is secured in place at the desired height in the derrick in the manner shown in Fig. 4. The yokes I embrace an adjacent girth 9 and are clamped thereon by suitable bolts Ill, the inner side of the board or platform being supported by chains I I which extend from the girth I2 next above and are secured at the lower ends to the tubing board by rings or the like I3.

At a suitable point on the inner side of the tubing board I provide a finger board l4 preferably comprising an angle iron secured by bolts 'or screws I5, and which projects inwardly from the tubing board toward the center of the derrick for the purpose hereinafter set forth.

Referring to Fig. 3 I have shown my improved tubing rack for use in conjunction with and as a part of the tubing board assembly. This rack consists of two supporting legs l6 secured at their upper extremities to a cross bar or rail I! and carrying at their lower ends yokes l8 similar to the yokes I heretofore mentioned. These yokes i8 are adapted to embrace the girth 9 at a point immediately adjacent the tubing board 3 toward the corner of the derrick as shown in Fig. 4 and are disposed at an upward angle to the vertical. The outer end of the cross bar l' i extends slightly beyond the adjacent supporting leg I6 and is threaded to receive an elbow '19 which in turn receives the threaded end of a brace member 26, the other end of which carries a yoke 2!. This yoke 2| embraces one of the 61L vertical legs 22 of the derrick to rigidly retain the rack in the proper position with respect to the tubing board. The opposite end of the cross bar I! is provided with a finger 23 which preferably projects at right angles to the cross bar 65 for a distance of approximately 14 inches for the purpose hereinafter set forth.

When my improved tubing board and rack are in position on the derrick, the top of the cross bar ll is substantially 3 feet above the level of the 70 tubing board, the rack being located in one corner of the derrick and the board being positioned immediately adjacent to the rack.

In operation a workman is stationed on thetubing board '3 and due to the height and loca- 75 tion of the finger 23 and the crossbar [1, the

rack structure serves as a supporting rail for the workman while performing his duties of removing or re-running tubing from or into the well.

As the individual stands of tubing are removed and unscrewed from the string in the conven- 5 tional manner, the workman on the tubing board temporarily rests the tubing against the finger board M with its lower end on the floor of the derrick while he detaches the elevator used in hoisting the tubing. After detaching the elevator, 10 the tubing is swung around with its lower end still resting on the floor of the derrick until its upper end rests on the cross bar I! of the tubing rack where it remains until re-run in the well. This operation is repeated until the entire string has 15 been removed from the well, the pipe finger 23 on the rack serving to keep the pipe or tubing from slipping off the rack. As before pointed out, this finger projects approximately 14 inches from the front side of the rack so that several tiers or 0 lines of tubing may be leaned against the rack without danger of the tubing slipping toward the inside of the derrick.

It will be noted that this pipe finger 23 is always on the side of the rack away from the 25 corner of the derrick and in order to enable a single rack to be used in any corner of the derrick, the supporting brace 20 is rotatable on the projecting end of the cross bar I! so that it may be swung from one side to the other when 30 the position of the rack is shifted. The threaded connection of the elbow I9 to the end of the cross bar I! permits this adjustment.

The chief advantages of my improved combination of tubing board and rack are their 535 lightness and. the ease with which they may be handled in moving from place toplace, and the fact that they provide a safer place in which the tubing-rack workman performs his duties. The tubing boards now in common use require 40 a large truck for their transportation from one well to another and at least four men to load and unload them. On the other hand, the tubing board of my invention weighs about one half as much as the old conventional tubing boards and can be loaded or unloaded by two men, and the rack weighs less than 50 pounds. Either of these parts of my invention may be hauled on the tool rack of an ordinary oil field automobile. f 50 It will thus be seen that with my improved structure, an operator with a number of wells in an oil field would require a far less number of devices for operation than the old type heretofore employed. 7 v 55 From the standpoint of safety, as has been pointed out above, the workman can brace himself in performing his work by grasping either the pipe finger 23 or any convenient portion of the rack and, furthermore, the supporting chains may also serve as a protection from falling, thus reducing the hazards which have heretofore been prevalent when the tubing rested against the board itself.

From the foregoing it is believed that the construction operation and advantages of my invention may be readily understood by those skilled in the art, without further description, it being borne in mind that numerous changes may be made in the details of structure herein disclosed without departing from the spirit of my invention as set forth in the following claims.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A rod rack for well derricks including a rod supporting cross bar, spaced legs depending from said cross bar, means for securing the free ends of said legs to one of the girths of said derrick, a lateral brace member pivotally mounted on said cross bar, and having at its free end means for securing the same to a leg of said derrick, said pivotal connection permitting the reversal of said brace to facilitate its attachment to any leg of the derrick.

2. A rod rack for well d'erricks including a rod supporting cross bar, spaced supporting legs depending from said cross bar, means for securing the free ends of said legs to one of the girths of said derrick, a lateral brace member secured at one end to said cross bar, having at its other end means for securing the same to a leg of said derrick, and a rod retaining finger extending upwardly from one end of said cross bar.

3. A rod rack as claimed in claim 2 wherein 20 said brace member is pivotally mounted'on said cross bar to permit its reversal for engagement of its free end to any leg of the derrick.

4. A rod rack for Well derricks including a rod supporting cross bar, spaced legs depending from said cross bar, means for securing the free ends of said legs to'one of the girths of said derrick, a rod retaining projection on one end of said cross bar, a lateral brace member at the other end of said cross bar, and means for securing said brace member to said derrick.

5. A rod rack for Well derricks including a rod supporting cross bar, spaced legs depending from. said cross bar, a yoke mounting at the free end of each of said legs embracing one of the girths of said derrick, a lateral brace member secured at one end to said cross bar, and having at its other end a yoke mounting for securing the same to one of the upright legs of said derrick.

DON W. LEE. 

